


i wonder if i'll live to grow old now

by falsemurmur



Category: Smallville
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 12:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falsemurmur/pseuds/falsemurmur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>To most in Metropolis, the world was nearing apocalypse, and for her to run into Jimmy Olsen on such a day should have been a big crop of foreshadowing, but for Chloe it was just another bad day growing less bleak.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	i wonder if i'll live to grow old now

**Author's Note:**

> written for [](http://burningqueen.livejournal.com/profile)[**burningqueen**](http://burningqueen.livejournal.com/), who wanted some s6 jimmy/chloe goodness. unfortunately i have no remedy for this angst bug, but this does involve the prompt as this goes through **low** **and high points** of their relationship.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
**Current music:**|   
[Gnarls Barkley](http://www.last.fm/music/Gnarls+Barkley) \- [Who's Gonna Save My Soul](http://www.last.fm/music/Gnarls+Barkley/_/Who%27s+Gonna+Save+My+Soul) | Powered by [Last.fm](http://www.last.fm/)  
  
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**Entry tags:**|   
[character-centric: chloe sullivan](http://community.livejournal.com/wings_for_craft/tag/character-centric:+chloe+sullivan), [character-centric: jimmy olsen](http://community.livejournal.com/wings_for_craft/tag/character-centric:+jimmy+olsen), [pairing: chloe/jimmy](http://community.livejournal.com/wings_for_craft/tag/pairing:+chloe/jimmy), [tv: smallville](http://community.livejournal.com/wings_for_craft/tag/tv:+smallville), [type: oneshot](http://community.livejournal.com/wings_for_craft/tag/type:+oneshot)  
  
  
_**i wonder if i'll live to grow old now**_  
**title:** i wonder if i'll live to grow old now  
**fandom: **Smallville  
**summary:** _To most in Metropolis, the world was nearing apocalypse, and for her to run into Jimmy Olsen on such a day should have been a big crop of foreshadowing, but for Chloe it was just another bad day growing less bleak._

_Jimmy, more or less, likened it to fate._  
**character(s)/pairing(s): **Jimmy Olsen, Chloe Sullivan, Jimmy/Chloe  
**genre: **Angst/General/Romance  
**rating:** pg-13  
**note: **written for [](http://burningqueen.livejournal.com/profile)[**burningqueen**](http://burningqueen.livejournal.com/), who wanted some s6 jimmy/chloe goodness. unfortunately i have no remedy for this angst bug, but this does involve the prompt as this goes through **low** **and high points** of their relationship! and i had to watch some s6/s7 smallville, which was basically awesome (for the most part, heh). the quoted parts &amp; letter are directly from the series. hope you enjoy.

~*~

_"His name was Jimmy. He was very cute in a bow tie kind of way. You know, I mean, it was-- it was a summer infatuation that I thought was the real thing… it wasn't awful by any means. But it just wasn't special, and as cliché as it sounds, it only happens once."_

(Chloe didn't remember him just because he was her first time. It was because he loved photography, was eager to get out in the world, and amidst that, took time to notice her.)

 

-¤-

 

She was pretty, but some would argue small against the backdrop of recognizable names in the media, the scandal breaking news, and rush-rush-rush of the Daily Planet. Yet, from all the other interns and important new reporters, she stood out to him. What with the hardly restrained tips of blonde hair, gleaming grin, and ferocious eyes.

And maybe over the years (and it's strange to think of it in such terms, because yesterday has hardly faded away, let alone three years), her hair tips were smoothed down some, although still uneven in the ways that let everyone know this was still Chloe, and maybe here and there her eyes expressed a loss of direction. Still the light loomed over her and as always she was Chloe Sullivan.

He imagined that his meek stature and mediocrity in features wouldn't warrant much attention from anyone, but he was only there to prove his potential as a photographer and further his skills as such. That she, that Chloe acknowledged his first hello with a wide grin and a shake of the hand was a big plus.

(He was young. He still is young, but he was younger and had a less capable brain. Chloe was special, but so were other pretty girls with big aspirations and talent to back it up, so when 'life' got in the way, _coincidentally_ not too long after a little romance with Chloe, he went on, didn't look back. But she was somewhere there still, a clear cut memory.)

Somewhere between his first rambling of camera shutters and her first mention of a Clark Kent, they spent a full 26 seconds kissing before a soft blush arose in her cheeks and she ran off to chase some semblance of a story.

He can't fully recall the context of their first kiss, not even if something in particular prompted it or if she tasted of some lip gloss or fruit or anything, but he remembers the little tint of pink in her cheeks afterwards.

 

-¤-

 

"We lost touch for the longest time and the day that we bumped into each other again, the world…well, it literally shook. And if that's not a sign I don't know what is."

 

-¤-

 

"Chloe…? Hey…this isn't 'cause I didn't call you back, is it?"

She set her jaw and pushed back a smirk. "Jimmy Olsen."

And all nonchalantly he semi-shrugged and half-pursed his lips, before flashing that toothy smile of his.

To most in Metropolis, the world was nearing apocalypse, and for her to run into Jimmy Olsen on such a day should have been a big crop of foreshadowing, but for Chloe it was just another bad day growing less bleak.

Jimmy, more or less, likened it to fate.

 

-¤-

 

"Maybe the earthquake wasn't a sign. Maybe it was a giant fluke just like this relationship."

"Maybe you're right."

On average, in a ten minute conversations, three lies are told. This conversation did not span ten minutes, not even five (just over four minutes actually). But there were enough lies there to typically span a ten hour conversation.

 

-¤-

 

He was her first, and if cushioned enough for a rating of all ages, it could make a nice tale of how he was her first and he would be her last. This of course, would do well for when they were no longer the young married couple, but rather _those old kids painted with wrinkled memories of the yester-years who now smile just having each other in their old age_.

Suddenly he remembers files and documents to be filed with a lawyer, and subsequent signatures that will be needed for that impending divorce he should stop putting off one of these days.

It's simple: he loves her. He learned (through trial and error) to trust her.

It should be simple: she loved him. Loved (he'd rather think of it in the past tense as it makes it easier to trivialize things). But for all her preaching on trust, she seemed to have forgotten to implement the concept into her character when it came down to her husband.

His tongue is bitter and eyes are cold, that is clear and there is no point in trying to mask that, because there is no room for hiding in heartache.

He lashes out, loses his way, which is to be expected when someone like Chloe Sullivan isn't there to hold you on steady ground (and all of this makes him a complete cliché--boy married young, separated young, fell on the wrong tracks without a woman to have his back).

 

-¤-

 

"He's not such a bad guy."

"Yeah. But he's no Jimmy Olsen."

On this particular day, it was easy to believe her without question.

 

-¤-

 

It was perhaps, a little delusional and definitely foolish to follow her blindly. But his love for her wasn't necessarily at fault, and this is the realization that makes him walk away.

(Yes, she had a tendency to lay her life down for Clark Kent and yes, he'd been let flower-in-hand-at-a-diner-waiting-for-Chloe-a-few-times-through-midnight. But despite his complaints of best friend v. boyfriend, he chose to show up in the end and chose to believe her. What had she done? Was it so selfish to ask for a little something in return?)

His veins pulse and heart chokes on itself, but he walks away.

 

-¤-

 

(_"You're still the same Chloe."_)

 

-¤-

 

Dear Jimmy,

After tonight I might not remember you, so don't let me forget why we belong together. I will always love you.

Chloe

(He kept it forever, even after the ending of their happily ever.)

 

-¤-

 

Maybe she should have told him the entire story, the entire reason for why she stuck by a man that was not her husband.

She should have wholly trusted him.

 

-¤-

 

Lois used to (okay, still does--her cousin has a hard time keeping her opinions to herself, but she's getting better, kind of) scoff at young couples and gave them a time limit, saying those "crazy in love" were stupid and naïve, and nothing so immature ever lasted forever.

Lois thought she, Chloe, was just having fun with Jimmy which was fine and dandy, but a few breakups and misunderstandings later with him, and before anyone could count up the months that passes, Chloe was in love and then, engaged.

Chloe held a firm opinion once, when as a teen she had mostly only her opinions and facts to keep her self-assured, that although love was real and could happen to anyone, there was no use in rushing into marriage, no matter the age of the engaged persons. In fact, she was all for long engagements.

In the end, barely into her 20s, and a technically short engagement, she was choosing decorations, a cake, and a dress amongst other things. It wasn't that she had forgotten that old opinion of hers or that she had become the naïve little girl in love Lois so despised--and it wasn't a bunch of other stuff people were so sure of (pregnancy or euphoria or anything). There wasn't a reason to put it off, either.

(She'd defend her status as a woman in love. Any person, young or old, doesn't know much about a person in love unless they have been in love.)

 

-¤-

 

Jimmy was fresh-faced and in the ways that counted, innocent.

Kissing him was new but comfortable, and having sex with him was awkward but nice and exciting, too.

 

-¤-

 

Chloe remembers him because he is her husband.

Even when she took to putting her safety and feelings last, even when she hurt those in her life to keep them safe, even when left with Davis, Jimmy remained her husband. She did wrong by him but she was paying some unjust and twisted dues.

In a lot of ways, they never had time to have a marriage. It was one tragedy after another. Some would say, he and she were simply doomed. Right from the start. But husbands and wives and disasters aside, he was her Jimmy.

She remembers Jimmy as that, and everything he was not destined to be, and yet everything he was and everything he accomplished despite that.


End file.
